South Carolina Crime Report - 2016

Every time an arrest is made over the U.s., offence records are kept, combined with details about the particular person, such as their name, gender, and where the crime occurred. Murder, sexual battery, robbery, aggravated assault, arson, autoMV theft, breaking and entering, larceny, drug laws, simple assault, weapon laws, DUI, alcohol intake laws, and liquor laws make up the fourteen sectors in the SC crime index. There are many groups of criminal activity, but these are the major ones captured within the crime catalog. 

In 2016, there were 35,723 overall arrests documented in these groups across SC, with most arrests coming under the crime of larceny. These numbers were below the 37,945 of 2015. 

Violent crimes are composed of many offenses, including muder, sexual battery, robbery, and aggravated assault, and involve personal confrontation between wrongdoer and target. Violent wrongdoing arrests reached 7,779 in 2016, a 2.6% rise from the prior year, with the arrest rate per 10,000 residents also increasing 1.2%. Nevertheless, this did show a 35.6% fall over the past 10 years, and a 43.4% drop over the last twenty years. 

Breaking and entering, vehicle theft, larceny, and arson, known as property crimes, were down from 2015. The number of arrests reduced by 8%, together with the arrest rate per 10,000 also reducing by 9.2%. Very similar to violent crimes, there was also a drop over both 10 and 20 year intervals. 

Murder 

Despite a decline in overall arrests from 2015 to 2016, murder rates were actually on the rise, climbing from 309 to 316. This continues a climb in the last three years within the state. However, there is an improvement between the first year in the index (1991), with 463 arrests for murder, to the 2016 results. The figures have usually moved around the 300 mark, apart from the somewhat of an anomaly in 2011, when 344 murder arrests were logged. 

Sexual battery 

Sexual battery includes any attack in which someone touches an personal part of another's body without invitation, usually for sexual fulfillment. We can see huge declines in sexual battery arrests from 1991 to 2016, with around a 50% decline in numbers. 1,037 arrests were made in 1991, compared to the 533 in 2016. However, there was a surge in arrests between 2015 and 2016. 

Robbery 

Following a similar pattern to the sexual battery statistics, robbery arrests also dropped from 1991 numbers, but grew from 2015. 1,762 arrests were made for robberies in 1991, while only 1,411 were recorded in 2016. The pattern appears to suggest that there was more general crime 20-30, in comparison with today. Numbers may have lowered since 1991, but they were up 100 arrests from 2015. 

Aggravated assault 

The effort to knowingly or carelessly cause significant harm or injury to another human being, with indifference towards the importance of human life is called aggravated assault. Aggravated assault arrest rates increased by 70 between 2015 and 2016, however we have seen a large general decline during the previous years. From above 10,000 in 1997, aggravated assault rates have fallen as time passed, hitting close to 9,000 in 2008, and now just 5,745 in 2016. 

Breaking and entering 

The very first year-on-year reduction we've seen from 2015 to 2016, arrests in this category seem to be on the decline recently. Numbers went from 4,197 to 4,063 in this time, maintaining a long-running development in this crime category. Actually, arrest numbers in breaking and entering have not gone up since 2011, decreasing year after year since. Figures are also well below the 7,334 height of 1991. 

Auto theft 

Arrest figures for the theft of motor vehicles grew past 1,000 again in 2016. The tally rose from 987 to 1,140 in this time. auto theft had hit an all-time low of 864 in 2013, but we have seen a sharp increase since then. The peak of arrests was recorded in 1992, in which 1,856 were documented. 

Larceny 

Larceny is when anybody has their personal property stolen. Arrests for larceny reached 22,351 in 2016, making it hands down the biggest contributor to total crime figures in SC. This was more than 2,000 under the 2015 total, which maintains a three-year annual decline. Arrest numbers for larceny are actually level with the times of 1991, unlike the other types of crime. Figures in both ’91 and 2016 were both in the 22,000 mark, with figure heights coming as recent as 2014 as they hit over 27,000. 

Arson 

The planned act of setting fire to a property is called arson. Arson figures reached 164 in 2016, up slightly from the 153 of the year previous. This put an end to four years’ worth of continual decline, but doesn’t represent a huge increase in arrests. Figures peaked in 1993 when they hit 337. 

Drug Laws and regulations 

Arrests associated with drug law offenses increased from 34,949 to 37,615 between 2015 and 2016. Arrests numbers were up 6.2% per 10,000 occupants. Interestingly, arrests statistics are down for drug offenses in the past 10 years, but have grown greatly over the last 20 years. 

Weapon Laws 

Between 2015 and 2016, there was a 15.9% surge in weapon-related arrests, together with a 14.3% rise in the rate of arrest per 10,000 people. Numbers were up from Twenty years ago, but down in the last decade. 

Simple Assault 

Simple assault doesn't involve physical contact between perpetrator and target, but describes the aim to cause serious physical injury, causing fear, or apprehension of upcoming battery. There were falls in arrests figures, rates, and comparisons over 10 and twenty years. There was an 8.7% drop between 2015 and 2016, as well as a 9.8% drop in rate per 10,000 inhabitants in the same time frame. There was a 24.6% and 37.2% decline in arrests within the last 10 and twenty years respectively. 

DUI 

DUI criminal offenses involve someone getting behind the wheel while under the influence. Drunk driving arrests dropped from 17,793 to 16,925 between 2015 and 2016, showing a 4.9% fall. . However, there were growths when considering it from a ten- and 20-year comparison , with a 34.2% rise in the past decade, and 4.5% in 20. 

Alcohol Laws 

Infractions to alcohol laws fell across the board, much like simple assaults. Between 2016 and 2016, we saw a 16.9% fall. 

Alcoholic drink Intake Laws 

Liquor laws include drunk and disorderly bahviour and intoxication. The rate of arrests fell in this group, with the number of arrests also dropping 13% between 2015 and 2016. There was also an arrest number decrease of 42.1% over a decade, and 33.1% over 20.